And how about that Princess Daisy, eh? What's she doing making all these royal visits when she should be ruling over her own kingdom, wherever the hell that is.

If you'll notice, Sarasaland didn't show up or get referenced ever after Super Mario Land; meanwhile, in the time since, other than leisure activity Daisy has been shown mostly engaging in various business pursuits, for example operating a commercial cruise liner. I think what happened here is clear. Daisy is barred from returning to Sarasaland, either because it has engaged in a democratic revolution and exiled the monarch, or more likely because it was conquered and/or destroyed by aliens during the Super Mario Land plot; her situation is much like that of exiled royalty in European high society, who are no longer recognized by their home country but are able to still live the high life through the self-sustaining fortunes the monarchy stashed in offshore accounts and was able to hold for themselves rather than returning to the people after their fall.

Daisy is of course welcomed in the monarchist society of the Mushroom Kingdom, which clearly seems to honor title and power above all else and allows organized crime leaders (such as Bowser) to hobnob and openly participate in the nobility's sports pursuits alongside high government functionaries.

Those mushrooms have faces, were they once living creatures or are they just faced mushrooms?

The story of the original Super Mario Brothers said that Bowser had transformed the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into (amongst other things) mushrooms. The mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers have faces because they are transformed human citizens of the kingdom.

According to the official story, these citizens were also transformed into blocks, and other unnamed things. Fire flowers aren't explicitly mentioned in the story, but we can probably safely assume that they're included in the list of things that citizens were transformed into.

So yeah, when Mario's eating mushrooms, those were previously human citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. When he's destroying blocks, those were also once citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Since Toads and Goombas both look like blends between humans and mushrooms (with toads closer to being humans and goombas appearing to be closer to mushrooms), it's probably safe to say that both those groups were also human citizens, before the coming of Bowser.

This is as distinct from the Koopa Troopas, who are pretty clearly more closely affiliated with Bowser, and probably are not transformed citizens.

Incidentally, the reason originally given for Bowser always kidnapping the princess is that for some unexplained reason, she's the only one who can undo the curse and return everyone to their normal forms. One can only wonder why she apparently didn't do so, after being rescued.

Haha, I know, I figured I would just say 'her' since that's canonically correct.

Incidentally, I really think Nintendo should acknowledge Birdo's "life choice" rather than sweeping it under the rug. Just imagine a game starring Birdo, in which the player can switch between male and female personas at will, each with their own set of abilities.

Haha, I know, I figured I would just say 'her' since that's canonically correct.

Scan of the original SMB2 manual:

Looks pretty canonical to me.

It is not uncommon for transsexual women to identify as merely crossdressers early in the process of self-discovery. Consider, after the appearance in SMB2 Birdo disappeared for six years, appearing again only in Wario's Woods in 1994, and since has been referred to exclusively as simply female. Apparently sometime between 1988 and 1994 Birdo entered the transition process and began to identify with female pronouns.

It is not uncommon for transsexual women to identify as merely crossdressers early in the process of self-discovery. Consider, after the appearance in SMB2 Birdo disappeared for six years, appearing again only in Wario's Woods in 1994, and since has been referred to exclusively as simply female. Apparently sometime between 1988 and 1994 Birdo entered the transition process and began to identify with female pronouns.

This is why I think Birdo and Yoshi make a great couple. If you're a dude who lays eggs, you're probably more accepting of an ex-man ladyfriend.

Although, since mario bros. 2 is just a dream, maybe birdo was female all along, and Mario subconciously thinks she's 'manish.'

Well actually the game Captain rainbow for wii lays even more suspicion. S/He have been sent to jail because s/he was seen in women toilet. The player must investigate a find a proof s/he's female (some buzzing thing under the pillow) but we never get to see "the thing"...

Maybe s/he's just hermaphrodite who have preference for her/his female side

Are Boos living or dead? For that matter, are Dry Bones and Bony Beetles living or dead?What process does a Koopa have to go through to become a Dry Bones?Oh, and how about Dry Bowser in NSMB? It seemed like Bowser died a horrible death in World 1's castle. I remember being all, "ha ha take that you giant jerk. Oh, it's Bowser so he should be fine OH HOLY CRAP HIS SKIN BOILED OFF." Despite being apparently 'brought back to life', does this mean Bowser is basically undead from now on?

And we know Bowser has all those children, so where's his wife? (This one honestly eats me up inside.)

Oh, you know who gets to make those children.

A hint, her name start with a P. And there's a reason she never tightens security.

You know, it'd be awesome if someone went ahead and made a full game with actual logical explanations for all the insanity of the Mario games, showing a world that seems cheery and colorful, but is a horrifying nightmare of Lovecraftian proportions behind the mask.

And how about that Princess Daisy, eh? What's she doing making all these royal visits when she should be ruling over her own kingdom, wherever the hell that is.

If you'll notice, Sarasaland didn't show up or get referenced ever after Super Mario Land; meanwhile, in the time since, other than leisure activity Daisy has been shown mostly engaging in various business pursuits, for example operating a commercial cruise liner. I think what happened here is clear. Daisy is barred from returning to Sarasaland, either because it has engaged in a democratic revolution and exiled the monarch, or more likely because it was conquered and/or destroyed by aliens during the Super Mario Land plot; her situation is much like that of exiled royalty in European high society, who are no longer recognized by their home country but are able to still live the high life through the self-sustaining fortunes the monarchy stashed in offshore accounts and was able to hold for themselves rather than returning to the people after their fall.

Daisy is of course welcomed in the monarchist society of the Mushroom Kingdom, which clearly seems to honor title and power above all else and allows organized crime leaders (such as Bowser) to hobnob and openly participate in the nobility's sports pursuits alongside high government functionaries.

Love this idea. I always thought Daisy should get more plot and game time.

And we know Bowser has all those children, so where's his wife? (This one honestly eats me up inside.)

Oh, you know who gets to make those children.

A hint, her name start with a P. And there's a reason she never tightens security.

You know, it'd be awesome if someone went ahead and made a full game with actual logical explanations for all the insanity of the Mario games, showing a world that seems cheery and colorful, but is a horrifying nightmare of Lovecraftian proportions behind the mask.

Oh. Oh God. I love everything you just said.

This thread is beautiful.

EDIT: but wouldn't P. start putting on some wait after that many pregnancies? And does this mean it always takes Mario about nine months to rescue her?

And we know Bowser has all those children, so where's his wife? (This one honestly eats me up inside.)

Oh, you know who gets to make those children.

A hint, her name start with a P. And there's a reason she never tightens security.

You know, it'd be awesome if someone went ahead and made a full game with actual logical explanations for all the insanity of the Mario games, showing a world that seems cheery and colorful, but is a horrifying nightmare of Lovecraftian proportions behind the mask.

Incidentally, the reason originally given for Bowser always kidnapping the princess is that for some unexplained reason, she's the only one who can undo the curse and return everyone to their normal forms. One can only wonder why she apparently didn't do so, after being rescued.

Yeah! Instead she just turned all the goombas into those hardshelled beetles.

Well, why should Bowser need Ms. P? There's no evidence that points to Bowser being a mammal, let alone having matching genetic data with P. He can be of a hermaphroditic race. He could be choosing other Koopas, maybe certain "good specimens" among his soldiers so they can fertilize each other and both bear offspring, like some lizards. Or he could be just auto-fertilizing.

Of course, I'm still open to the idea of P having kinky tendencies that involve fantasies of kidnapping and being saved and stereotypical Italian macho men in overalls and usage of a lot of "magic" mushrooms.